CHAPTER 10
Luckily, apart from a huge table and chairs and a few cabinets, the dining room was sparsely furnished. Nathaniel, James and Dela dragged the table to one side of the room. Then while Nathaniel nipped off to the kitchen, Dela moved the chairs into the hall and James began dismantling the huge six-part table.
Nathaniel came back with some small metal Indian curry bowls and one glass mixing bowl, which he placed on the floor.
"I need one chair Dela, here," he pointed, "the cabinet must go also."
Dela obliged as Nathaniel opened his rucksack and pulled out his ancestors' grimoire and put it on the chair. He began to flick through it as he searched through his rucksack for a magic marker and some chalk with his other hand.
Nathaniel found the page he was after and began reading as chaos and movement carried on around him.
Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Green had dragged the two henchmen, still tied to their chairs, to a small lavatory near the stairs opposite the dining room. They managed to squeeze both of them in facing each other. They checked their bonds were still secure and closed the door behind them.
.
The girl was silent now, probably so scared out of her mind that she might never find her way back to sanity. They untied her and easily led her to sit on a chair and left her staring into eternity in a cleared part of the dining room.
Nathaniel jumped up from his reading ignoring everything around him, grabbed a sword from where it had been mounted on a wall. Finally the dining room was clear. Mr. Green escorted James to the upstairs toilet because he had to go. Mrs. Dawson stood in the hallway, pistol at the ready and Dela was re-salting the window ledge once more.
Looking at a diagram etched with a quill hundreds of years ago, Nathaniel began drawing a rough circle on the floor with chalk. Outside that circle he drew another roughly parallel, a foot's width apart. These circles Nathaniel stood inside and changed, rubbed out and amended until they were both as near as round as he could manage. Nathaniel then took out a small black notebook and pencil and starting jotting down figures. Then he pulled a tape measure out and began measuring both circles and Dela watched as he went from the notebook to the grimoire.
Mr. Green anxiously peered out of an upstairs window while James pee-ed nervously and quickly in the nearby bathroom. The storm still continued unabated. Mr. Green scratched his nose; he'd never endured a storm that had lasted so long. The lightning and thunder seemed to be permanently above the house and that was downright unnatural.
Mr. Green gripped his pistol harder as he saw a red shape briefly in the shadows of the garden. The bathroom door opened and James nervously came out.
"Come on lad, let's get you downstairs." Mr. Green glanced out of the window again as he moved off, but the red figure had disappeared.
With everyone in the room now, Nathaniel continued to complete his protective circle with a thick black marker pen. The outer ring was now divided into thirteen separate chevrons. Each of the chevrons would have a symbol inside, seven already did having been painstakingly copied from his ancestral book. Bowls were placed on certain symbols around the circle. One contained Nathaniel's gold watch, another his silver lighter, a third a small bronze horse shoe from Dr. Geial's living room, and the fourth was an iron nail pulled from a wall.
The circle was over five foot in diameter as it had to be roomy enough for six to sit comfortably inside it. James and the vacant nurse sat quietly on chairs in one corner of the room. Mr. Green peeked through the front curtains of the living room, peering into the rain. Mrs. Dawson stood in the hallway by the open door, keeping a vigil for the unexpected.
Dela walked over to her as Nathaniel tried to go as fast as he could to complete the protective magic circle.
"So what do you think about all this black magic stuff?" Mrs. Dawson asked in a soft voice, her eyes flicking to Nathaniel.
"If you'd asked me a week ago," said Dela, "the only thing I ever prayed for was a lottery win and the only thing I had total faith in was my vibrator!" Dela's smile was beautiful and infectious, as Mrs. Dawson grinned back at her despite the situation they faced.
"I know, I'm in the Society and I've seen many supernatural things, but a pistol or a stake or a rational mind normally sorts them out."
"Tell you something," Dela stated, "me mother was a great believer in all things like this, I think she'd have liked Nathaniel, even though he's a little pastier than my normal fellas!"
"I know you have every faith in Nathaniel, but this makes me feel uneasy. It's like we are using some evil magic of the demons and I've never been so reliant on anyone else for my own life before." Mrs. Dawson suddenly looked to Dela's eyes like a normal thirty-something scared woman.
"I have total faith in Nat; we all have to if we are to ever make it out of this bloody house." Dela squeezed Mrs. Dawson's hand, then walked back to watch Nathaniel's progress.
Mrs. Dawson walked over to the fireplace. Two lit candles burned slowly, even though the lights blazed throughout the whole house.
Nathaniel moved on to his next symbol. He still had three more to finish. He had to shut out any fears; his surroundings and the other people in the room as he meticulously carried out his task.
Mrs. Dawson moved to the window where Mr. Green kept his vigil. "Anything?" she asked.
"Nothing but the rain," he replied, "maybe - !" His words died on his lips the same instant as all the lights in the house flickered and went out. The nurse wailed in horror and the others choked a little with surprise. The two candles on the fireplace mantle were the only illumination in the room now. Torchlight appeared on the floor from Nathaniel, he made no other sound or movement, but continued with his symbols.
Another torchlight appeared from the window from Mrs. Dawson's hand. She and Mr. Green rushed to the open door scanning the hall for unwelcome guests.
"What are we gonna do?" James cried out, scared out of his young wits now.
"Nat?" Dela asked, moving over to comfort James and the crazed nurse.
"Not now babe, bit busy," Nathaniel stated softly continuing his work. "Try and stay calm old thing, got to concentrate."
Dela stared through the semi-darkness in disbelief at Nathaniel's calmness. "Stay calm! Fuck me Nat, how can you stay so calm now?"
"
If Nathaniel had been looking, he would have seen the scowl etched deep into Dela's face. Sensing Dela's brown eyes boring deep into the side of his head Nathaniel relented.
"Dela, get yourself, James and the woman into the circle; bring the cushions and bottles of water too."
Dela moved over to the now standing James.
"And Dela, be careful when you step into the circle okay?"
Nathaniel moved on to the penultimate symbol as he tried to close his hearing off and ignore the world around him.
Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Green on the other hand were straining their eardrums to the maximum. Both stood just inside the hallway, both staring into the gloom, pistols at the ready. Mrs. Dawson's torch beam went from door to door as an eerie silence filled the house. Thirty seconds passed and it seemed to the two Society members that it was like thirty minutes. Only Mr. Green's slightly harder nasal breathing could be heard as they waited nervously.
From upstairs somewhere in the dark a floorboard creaked. Both Society members spun their pistols and the torch beam aimed up the stairs. Five seconds of breath-holding silence passed, then from upstairs another floorboard creaked followed a second later by a heavy footfall. Another heavy echo-ey footstep (foot-thud more like) was heard above them upstairs, but getting louder; getting closer. The Society duo exchanged a quick one second look of anxiety then all their strained senses returned their stair vigil.
In the dining room Nathaniel was finishing off the penultimate ward of protection (with the marker pen). He could not hasten as any wrong copying from the book could render the circle useless.
The footfalls deep and heavy like a Sumo wrestler wearing iron-clad slippers, grew louder and closer. Something was in the black shadows that lay heavy on the landing; two smudged pastel red glows of light could be seen.
Into the beam of Mrs. Dawson's torchlight it stepped, a seven foot, red fiery skinned demon from hell's furnace. Black ebony horns lanced from its massive cranium and two sets of arms, with jet black razor sharp nails, moved to the top of the stairs. It did not need to embrace the dark shadows any longer, it was majestic, powerful, without fear and full with the malice and torture of a million souls. It roared at the frail man and woman cowering at the bottom of the stairs and planted a huge cloven foot on the top step.
Inside the circle the nurse whimpered and buried her head into James's shoulder. Any other time and this would have made him cum in his pants, but the demon's roar had turned his bones to chalk.
Nathaniel moved on to the last empty chevron and re-consulted his ancestors' book before he started the last glyph. Dela looked around the room anxiously. She was tired and drained and wished this was all over and pined for a ten hour kip in a king-sized bed.
Another step down form the demon forced the trembling Society Investigators into action. Shots rang out, one-two, one-two from both their pistols. The bullets found their mark and the demon stopped and swayed in its step for a second, then descended another stair. The pistols rang out again, both head shots making the foul beast of Gehenna recoil briefly in pain.
"Go for the eyes!" Mrs. Dawson cried out in desperation. Both pistols fired again, one grazing the demon's horns, the other burying itself deep into one of its lava-pit pupils. The demon howled from deep inside its chest, its hands moving up to its wound. This managed to delay the swaying demon for a couple of seconds then it was descending the stairs again.
The demon smiled, its fangs showed through the smoky torch-beam as it headed for the Society duo, clawed hands reaching forward. Mr. Green fired again hitting its chest and left arm. The foul thing hardly recoiled at all. The next shot was a surprised click.
"Re-load!" Mrs. Dawson ordered.
"No time, let's go!"
Mrs. Dawson fired two parting shots into the demon's head as Mr. Green pulled at her arm. The demon paused as the two ran back into the dining room. Mr. Green slammed the door behind them and then jumped into the large circle on the wooden floor. Each fumbled for new ammo clips as the door to the dining room was pushed to the floor off its hinges.
Its red body was framed by the pale light in the room. Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Green were no way near re-loading their guns; James and the nurse closed their eyes and held each other tight, while Dela stared at Nathaniel.
The demon roared and stepped warily into the room., where it met unusual resistance. A black marker pen flew across the room and bounced off the end of its nose. The demon was taken aback for a second, then charged at the standing Nathaniel le Meuille.
"Barra kako daimon!" Nathaniel cried aloud and all around him the symbols in the chevrons glowed with an eerie ethereal light. The demon hit the boundaries of the circle and suddenly recoiled in shock, pain and terror.
"Begone wicked demon!" Nathaniel cried aloud in English this time. With an almighty roar the demon fled the room.
Everyone in the circle stared at Nathaniel in surprise. Everyone except Dela. The glow of the symbols and the chevrons dulled till only faint lines could be seen, then nothing. A heavy silence filled the dining room, Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Green watched as Nathaniel turned to face them.
"You all better prepare yourselves," Nathaniel spoke slowly and with grim intent, "for the longest night of your lives."
"But, but the demon's gone," James stuttered.
"And he'll be back," Nathaniel stated without emotion as he reached down to collect his torch from the floor. Nathaniel checked his symbols carefully, one by one, going round the circle.
Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Green started to reload their pistols. They were trained for proactive supernatural investigations.
Dela stood close to Nathaniel grabbing his arm to get his attention "What now clever clogs?"
"We wait and prepare for what hell has to throw at us." Nathaniel held Dela in his arms and kissed her cheek. "Just don't trust anything you see or her outside this circle for the next five hours."
Somewhere in the house (it sounded like the landing) a grandfather clock struck
Mr. Green was standing watch, trying to stamp a bout of pins and needles from his left foot. Mrs. Dawson was sitting cross-legged, her head slumped on her chest, pistol in her hands resting between her legs. She occasionally fought the sleep that had overtaken her, but it was too strong even in these circumstances. James and the nurse were each curled up together in a spoon-like foetal position, heads propped on cushions.
Nathaniel was alert and awake. Dela was lying on his legs, awake because she had slept too long without him recently.
Nathaniel tried to think of what the hell fiends would do next; the more he thought, the more things he came up with to worry him. The attacks they could rain down on them could be legion and whether he could save all the people in the circle frightened him immensely. The silence was unnerving, even to him. He was glad James and the nurse were asleep.
"Nathaniel." A woman's cool cultured and crisp voice woke Nathaniel's mind like it called to him from a dream. Nathaniel looked up and there, standing in the doorway, dressed in a flowing white dress, was his sister.
Mr. Green had bent down to wake his superior, but Nathaniel had turned and stopped him with a shake of his open hand. Dela opened her resting eyes and jumped to her knees.
"Who's that?" Dela hissed.
"A phantom Dela, pay it no attention, the circle will protect us." Nathaniel said resolutely.
"How can you tell?" Mr. Green whispered above him, pistol in hand, but not pointing at the figure.
"Don't you recognise me Nathaniel?" the woman with long flowing brown hair glided into the room closer to the circle.
"Because that is my sister and because hell-demons have a poor sense of Earth geography they fail to realise that she lives in the United Stated now," Nathaniel explained.
"So what is it, if it ain't your sister?" Dela asked.
"A phantom, placed before us by the powers of darkness. Or the demon in disguise, wishing us to see this image."
"Won't you come and hug your sister Nathaniel?" the vision in white asked in a sugary voice.
"Of course Eleanor, come closer inside the circle and I'll give you a big hug," Nathaniel tempted her back, knowing his real sister would have nothing to fear from the circle. The vision made no attempt to come closer to the circle.
"I'm bored Eleanor," Nathaniel sighed and pulled a ten pence piece from his trouser pocket and whizzed it at the woman/sister/demon. The Eleanor figure parried the coin away with its left hand, which turned magna red for an instant and the Eleanor phantom cried out in pain and ran from the room.
"One-nil to the circle boys," stated Mr. Green triumphantly.
"What was that?" Mrs. Dawson asked awoken by the talking.
"Just the other side testing our perimeter," Nathaniel explained, "nothing to worry about yet."
"What will they try next do you reckon Nat?" Dela asked, reaching up to grab his left hand and attention.
"It could come in any form; knowing them all could be more frightening than ignorance my love." Nathaniel stared at the doorway, then down at Dela a thin forced smile on his lips.
Half an hour passed without noise or movement from outside the circle. James and the nurse were asleep, though having fretful night terrors. Mr. Green sat resting while Mrs. Dawson stood and kept watch. Nathaniel cuddled Dela to his chest, both were awake and alert, just catching what could be their last moments of comfort together.
Mrs. Dawson sniffed. A bad odour was faintly catching her nostril's attention. A loud crack, like a log on an open fire, really caught her attention. Nathaniel stiffened at the noise, another wooden crack followed it and then a crunch. It seemed to becoming from the floorboards inside the dining room. To the left of Dela's sitting position a floor board flew up as if hit by a hammer form underneath. A red glow streamed through the broken wood, which was three feet outside the protective circle.
"Quickly Dela! Get everyone awake and alert for danger."
Dela set about doing Nathaniel's bidding.
Another crack and a floorboard exploded in two pieces to the right of Mr. Green who rose with a start, pistol ready. A red hand like a child's but with vicious pointed black nails rose from the red maw. Cracks were heard and floorboards broke in a circle around the sphere of protection now.
Nathaniel knelt, watching a ring of fire slowly take shape around the circle. Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Green stood in awe at the terror unfolding around them. Dela woke James with a start and he cried out in shock, which woke the poor nurse beside him who just screamed in terror.
And so they came; small impish creatures of fiery red; the size of a three year old child with two thin arms, legs, head and bodies. But here the similarities ended. These devilish imps with skins as red as blood; with freakish rounded heads, pot bellies and thin limbs clawed their way out of the pits of hell into the dining room. Some carried single headed spears or tridents, all had big black eyes and lipless mouths, packed with razor sharp teeth.
The scene vaguely reminded Nathaniel of his favourite film "Jason and the Argonauts" when the hydra's skeletal warriors pulled themselves out of the ground.
This was no film, this was now and out of Hell's heart crawled and pulled fifteen demon imps and they were not here to revel in the flames from which they came. They soon turned their attention to the humans huddled before them.
Nathaniel jumped to his feet and flung his arms wide, before the imps could reach them.
“Barra kako theos, barra kako daimon, barra daiman. pneuma ar, pneuma ub, barra demon abus!” Nathaniel shouted and a blast of yellow light surged up from the chevrons and mystic symbols of the protective circle around them.
“Be gone wicked god, be gone wicked demon, be gone demon, spirit of the sphere, spirit of the circle. Be gone demon to the abyss!” Nathaniel repeated in English for good measure.
One of the devilish imps screamed like some tribal pygmy warrior and charged the circle. Its clawed hands, toes and long nose vaporised in a flash of blue smoke, as they came in contact with the barrier. The creature now mewed in agony as it staggered back from the circle of protection, staring mournfully at its mutilated arms. It turned to its nearest compatriot for help, which approached with apparent sympathy. Then the healthy imp pulled a long knife from behind its back and in an instant, chopped off its injured fellow’s nose-less head.
The nurse struggled in James’s embrace and screamed bloody murder; the others, apart from Nathaniel, looked on amazed.
“Least we know the circle is protecting us,” Nathaniel stated.
Everyone flinched back a pace as the imp’s head was tossed at the humans in the circle. The head vanished with a blue flame as it hit the invisible sphere and everyone took an involuntary step backwards.
The imps screamed and stamped all around them, making as much of a racket as they could. Dela put her hands over hear ears; if she hadn’t been as scared as she was, she would have got bored with the harmless-looking imps’ antics. Yet it was as Nathaniel had told her before, “Never judge a book by its cover” and “Never underestimate a demon, whatever its size or comic appearance.”
“Why don’t you just fuck off!” jeered Mr. Green and pointed his pistol at the nearest imp and fired. Its head exploded like a blood orange and its fragile little body fell over in a most satisfying manner.
“Save your bullets Mr. Green,” Nathaniel warned, “you may need them for more fearsome foe before this night has ended.”
Mr. Green looked at his superior questioningly, “Good work, but better conserve the old ammo eh?” Mrs. Dawson said diplomatically.
“Okay,” he nodded, “but it was worth the bullet,” he added softly.
A sudden rising scream shook everyone inside the protective circle. Everyone turned to see the nurse (from whom the scream had been emitted) being dragged kicking and screaming, legs first, out of the circle.
When the imp had attacked the sphere everyone had involuntarily stepped, slightly, backwards. The nurse, who had been sitting on her knees in James’s embrace, had unfortunately put her left foot and ankle out of the circle. Five imps had grabbed her and had puller lower half out of the protective circle. James had grabbed her right arm and had his right hand under her left armpit trying to pull her back in.
The nurse was, to her credit, struggling and screaming for all her worth. Seven imps pulled at the woman, pulling her almost out of the circle and James’s arms with it. Dela grabbed James around the waist to steady him. Mr. Green carefully aimed and blew the head off one of the pulling imps, but he struggled to find a second target for fear of hitting the nurse’s legs.
It was all over in seconds as an imp skipped up along the nurse’s back; it speared the nurse in the right arm and then James in his left arm in quick succession. Both let go in pain. Dela pulled James back into the protective circle as he clutched his wound. The poor nurse was pulled screaming down under the open floorboards with all the imps following.
They heard one last pitiful wail of despair and she was gone. The imps, squealing with ghoulish delight, followed, except one that Mr. Green blasted into red puke in anger. The red glow disappeared and tiny hands pulled and pushed the floorboards back to the state they were before the attack.
Everyone stood or sat in utter, silent, shock. The nurse had gone in seconds, like she had never existed and the room lay silent as a tomb.
“Feck!” stated Mr. Green, his pistol circling the floor in disbelief.
“Argh,” said James, and he began to blub like a baby. Dela reacted first, pulling off a cushion cover and wrapping it tightly around James’s wound, tending to it as best she could.
Nathaniel sprang into action examining the part of the circle where the nurse was pulled across, checking for damage to the circle’s power and integrity.
Mrs. Dawson slumped down hard on her arse, the slight pain welcoming because it meant she was still alive.
“We didn’t even know her name,” Mrs. Dawson said to herself.
“Roxanne,” James whispered, then sniffed loudly. “Her name was Roxanne.” On saying her name for a second time he burst into more tears.
“Is it all that you expected?” Nathaniel asked Mrs. Dawson, half a (silent) hour after the nurse had been snatched from them.
“What, do you mean, this?” she asked, shrugging her shoulders.
“No, living in fear for your life. This isn’t misty photos, or things that go bump in the night, or a poltergeist. This is the real battle of good and evil, light and dark, deadly serious, not some amateur ghost-buster’s club,”
Nathaniel spoke with a passion and black edge that Dela had not heard before. Standing before her in the semi-darkness was the King’s Paladin and only now was she realising what that job and his life entailed. This was no nine-to-five job or hobby, this was something he was born to be or cursed to be.
“That’s why the Society needs you,” Mr. Green said. “Your in the field experience.”
“Hmm,” Nathaniel snorted. “After this Dela and I are retiring to the
Dela looked up at Nathaniel with love in her eyes and smiled in spite of the situation. Nathaniel saw her smile and even though his stern face did not budge an inch, he winked at her.
“What was that?” James exclaimed loudly, pointing to the door. It was the first words he had spoken in an hour, since the nurse had been snatched from them.
Everyone was sitting in the circle, lost deep in their own mortal thoughts. They all turned to face the doorway as James stood up. A red glow could be seen walking along the hall, the demon was abroad again. Somewhere in the hall a door was opened and two different muffled screams could be heard.
“Geial’s men,” Mrs. Dawson hissed.
The screams grew louder and panicky and a struggle could be heard, then deathly silence.
“That’s the end of those fellows then!” Mr. Green stated.
Nathaniel said nothing. He had his eyes closed and was deep in thought.
Dela, on the other hand was getting cabin (protective circle) fever. She wasn’t used to sitting around and twiddling her thumbs and all that stiff-upper-lip stuff. She wanted to scream and shout and kick arse. That was her way. But she was way out of her depth at the moment. She just had to trust Nathaniel (the man she loved) to save her, indeed save them all, from damnation.
Then she and the others heard footfalls in the hall getting louder, coming towards the door. In, without announcement, walked Geial’s men, or their bodies at least. Their eyes were a mass of broken red blood vessels and their minds were obviously somewhere else.
The two Society members drew their side arms, each picking a different target. One man stumbled to the far corner of the room and knelt down, his head on his chest like he was doing an unholy prayer. The other man walked up to the circle and stopped only inches from its borders. Mr. Green raised his weapon and pointed at the man’s head.
“No!” shouted Nathaniel, “don’t be tempted to shoot, the circle will protect us!” Nathaniel put his hand on Mr. Green’s arm, who turned and frowned at him, but let his arm be lowered slightly.
Then with the funk of fiery sulphur, the bright red demon strode into the room. A wicked, cruel smile cut across his face as he looked at the nervous inhabitants inside the circle. The demon strode over to the kneeling man and stood before him laughing wildly. Without a hint of hesitation, worry or remorse the red demon plunges its black nailed fingers into the eyes, nostrils and mouth of the poor henchman. Blood jetted from the unfortunate man’s eyes and nose and screams emanated from his mouth.
Dela, James and even Mrs. Dawson turned their heads in disgust. The demon laughed aloud and pulled the man’s head off his shoulders, leaving a stub of bone and jetting blood shooting into the air.
Mrs. Dawson, who had looked round, turned her head again, her face going pale green. Mr. Green couldn’t believe his eyes, but managed to keep looking as he swallowed a large lump of bile back down his throat. Nathaniel breathed hard through his nose and tried to remain calm, he has seen much worse.
The demon easily lifted the man up, held him by the waist and whistling some unearthly tune, started to make a circle of blood. Round and round the demon spun making a circle with the henchman’s bodily fluids. Worse was to come as the blood waned, the demon began to squeeze and crush the poor man to get more blood from its victim.
The demon then threw the head at the circle, which missed them by inches, but still splattered the occupants with blood. The body, finally squeezed of blood, was tossed casually into a corner. The demon then spread its hands in the air and began to chant in an evil tongue, unknown to even Nathaniel. Cruel were its words, barked from its odious maw, yet everyone watched in unnatural fascination.
Blue flames began to jump and bounce inside the circle, the flames flicked to yellow then red as the demon’s dark words of invocation continued. Nathaniel could see small fire elementals dancing in a grotesque mockery of a children’s nursery rhyme in the flames. They would seem like bobbing bits of the fire to everyone else, but the King’s Paladin could see their dance.
The demon cried a word aloud, one which Nathaniel knew and sent the blood pumping round his heart, icy. The red demon stepped away from the fire and the henchman retreated from the circle’s edge to the doorway. A fiery flame and stench of sulphurous yellow smoke filled that side of the room.
When the smoke dissipated a figure now stood in the circle of blood. Dela buried her head in her hands with cold fear, and beads of cold sweat ran down Nathaniel’s forehead. For there in the invoking circle, in his human guise, stood Ashmodaios, the Demon Lord. The Arch-Duke of Hell, stepped out of the circle, adjusted his expensive looking black suit and walked over to the protective circle.
“Mr. Le Meuille, we meet again, and Miss Robinson, how very fortunate I am.” The tall, tanned demon in the form of a bearded middle-eastern man intoned. “And you have guests also, three of those Society amateurs. My, the company you keep Nathaniel!” Ashmodaios moved within inches of the circle.
“Nice to see you up and about on Earth again Ashmodaios. Has it been three days already?” Nathaniel replied with all the coolness and bluster he could manage.
“Even you, King’s Paladin from the ancient line of demon hunters and witch burners can’t keep a good man down.” Ashmodaios emphasised the “good man down” part of his words by pointing to the floorboards.
“Good man?” Nathaniel asked glibly.
“You and I, Nathaniel,” Ashmodaios tuned around and walked three steps away, “are a dying breed from a time that doesn’t exist any more.” Ashmodaios smiled; Mrs. Dawson noticed the size of the Demon Lord’s incisors. “How many men are left in the western world who can invoke such a powerful sphere of protection? Not many I’d wager, less than the fingers on both my hands,” Ashmodaios showed Nathaniel his palms, his nails looked sharp and black.
“I’m wondering why you are here?” Nathaniel asked, cocking his head to one side and crossing his arms.
“To kill you all of course!” Ashmodaios smiled, his gentle tones not changing.
“Why you, a Demon Lord, the Arch-Duke of Hades, here with … “ Nathaniel looked at his watch, “…one hour to go before dawn?”
“Come now Nathaniel, don’t belittle yourself. You’re a big player, a big nuisance, a big kill.” Ashmodaios moved closer to the circle once more.
“No Ashmodaios. The reason is you’re scared. The big boss has sent you back to Earth with your forked tail between your legs because you failed. You let a human defeat you. Even for three days that must come as an embarrassment in Lucifer’s court!”
Ashmodaios’ eyes turned from brown to blood red in seconds, an eternity of wrath boiled like molten lava behind those demonic irises. Ashmodaios moved closer as if to grab Nathaniel.
“Barra kako theos, barra kak daimon, barra daimon, pneuma an, pnuema ub, barra daimon abus!” Nathaniel shouted out the words of protective power and shuffled back a step. Once again warm yellow light like a winter’s dawn surged up and around the people in the protective circle.
Ashmodaios recoiled a step from the glow, his enraged eyes still trained on Nathaniel.
“That’s why you’re here, to try and breach the circle! Well, you’re out of luck demon!” Nathaniel did something no living human had done in a century: laughed at a Demon Lord.
“You seem to forget yourself mortal,” Ashmodaios spat trying to regain some composure, “I am eternal and one day soon, hopefully at my hands, you will die.”
“What when the invasion comes Ashmodaios. ‘Cos we know all about your little plans, sonny-Jim.” Nathaniel stood proud and erect like one of his ancestors, yet without the armour.
“Oh, I’ll get you and your little helpers before then Mr. Le Meuille, I promise.” The Demon Lord strode towards his invoking circle again.
“Still got to fit in our little game Arch-Duke,” Nathaniel moved an imaginary chess piece in the air.
“So it has been requested, so it will be done as it is written in the scriptures.” Ashmodaios stepped into the now flaming circle. “I look forward to our next meeting and your next move,” Ashmodaios saluted.
“As do I,” Nathaniel replied as fire enveloped the Demon Lord and he was gone.
The remaining last demon snarled something at the last henchman, then he too stepped into the circle of flame and vanished in a cloud of yellow smoke.
The henchman turned and walked briskly out of the once ornate and swish dining room. Mr. Green lowered his gun to the floor and exhaled loudly, in a relieved exaggerated manner.
“Is it over Nathaniel?” Dela asked from her sitting position next to Mrs. Dawson.
“For the time being, yes,” Nathaniel stated, “but don’t rest on your laurels yet.”
Nathaniel turned and faced the others.
“Well, my hands have gone numb from sitting here.” Dela’s bright brown eyes suddenly stretched in their sockets. “Nat! Look out!”
The henchman who had caused Dela’s screamed warning had returned to the room and was brining an automatic weapon to bear on the King’s Paladin’s back.
A shot range out and Nathaniel squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the painful impact. It never came.
What did happen was the henchman’s left knee exploded, sending blood and bone in all directions and the shocked man tumbling forward on to the wooden floorboards. Putting his arms out before him to stop his fall he sent his machine gun out of his hands and skidding across the floor into the circle, where Nathaniel put his shoe on it to stop it dead. The impact on his shattered knee as he fell caused the six foot, fourteen stone man to pass out in pain.
“For God’s sake leave us alone!” James wailed at the top of his lungs, then collapsed into a foetal position in a flood of tears.
Nathaniel looked down at Mrs. Dawson who’s pistol held arm was still pointing past his left leg. The smell of the fired weapon wafted up into Nathaniel’s nostrils and he coughed. He was alive and very glad that he was able to smell and cough.
Dela hugged Nathaniel, whispered a thanks to Mrs. Dawson and then bent down to comfort James. Not because she wanted to, or that she was any good at helping the distressed, but because of the fact that no one else would.
Mrs. Dawson stared through blood-shot eyes at the man she had just shot. Blood gushed from his shattered knee on to the wooden floor. Human blood, not vampire or werewolf, or even demonic blood, but a foolish human’s blood.
“Nice shot,” Nathaniel looked down at his saviour and smiled, “much appreciated.”
Mrs. Dawson, who was usually never short for words, ideas or plans, just lowered her gun and closed her pretty green eyes. She had nothing left to give and prayed for an end to this accursed night.
Her prayers were answered, but not for another forty minutes, when a dull dawn started to register in the distant sky. The house was silent; the storm had ended, but no-one could tell you when it had dissipated. The clouds were white and thick, yet the new day was more welcome than Christmas Day!
They had survived for another dawn at least. Nathaniel was first to step out of the protective circle; he went over and used a cushion cover to bandage the unconscious henchman’s leg and Mr. Green followed, his pistol in his hand as Dutch courage. Then Mrs. Dawson emerged and she immediately went to look out of the window. Dela left James sleeping in the circle on a cushion and went and kissed Nathaniel long and hard on the lips.
“What a night!” Dela mused, “I’m so knackered.”
Nathaniel held her at arms length, “If you’re tired you must be alive, if you’re alive, you live to sleep another day.”
Dela gave him a puzzled grin, “I’m never gonna suss you out am I?”
“I dunno,” he grinned, “ask me again after our tenth wedding anniversary.” Nathaniel kissed Dela on the forehead and left her bemused in the middle of the room as he went into the hall.
Mr. Green was tying the henchman’s wrists together with a servant’s bell cord he had pulled down from the wall. Dela looked around at her various companions as they busied themselves in the post-traumatic dawn. The sight of the other henchman’s cadaver sent bile to her throat so she decided to follow Nathaniel out of the room.
She found him in the kitchen filling a bucket of cold water as he pulled a large white tablecloth from one bottom drawer.
“Can I help?” Dela asked from the doorway.
“Can you grab that bucket?”
Dela turned off the cold tap just before the bucket started to overflow, “What now hun?”
“Follow me Miss Robinson,” he winked and left the kitchen, the large tablecloth in his hands.
Dela struggled after him as the bucket was burdensome. She followed Nathaniel back into the dining room.
Nathaniel unfolded the tablecloth and flapped it before his face before laying it over the headless cadaver in the corner. Then, taking the bucket from Dela, he sloshed it across the floor, washing away the red demon’s bloody invoking circle.
“What now babes?”
“Like you, I’m dead on my feet Dela,” Nathaniel yawned, catching it from her, “but we need somewhere safe, so we can sleep and re-group.”
“Any ideas?” she asked, “Are we in with this Society lot now Nat?”
“They have their uses, but even with all their resources and experience, they can’t keep us safe from Ashmodaios.”
“Don’t tell me,” Dela smirked, “you have a plan!”
“Why’s that funny Dela?”
“’Cos you always have a plan, my knight in shining armour,” and she kissed him on the cheek.
“Only a last resort really, but we are down to last resorts now babes,” he gave her bum a quick squeeze. “Grab the book and our bags. I’ll have a word with Mrs. Dawson and then we’ll be off.”
“Okay, you’re the boss. Well, for the moment at least babes.”
Nathaniel rubbed his tired eyes then walked slowly over to the windows, to talk to the Society lady.
“It’s time we were going,” Nathaniel stated as he came and stood next to Mrs. Dawson.
“And we will, once the Society sends some cars and reinforcements,” Mrs. Dawson said with tired relief in her voice.
“No, you don’t understand,” Nathaniel corrected, “Dela and I are leaving now.”
“What!” Mrs. Dawson exclaimed, the fire returning to her bloodshot eyes.
“Look, thanks for your help last night in saving Dela,” Nathaniel started, “but now we have to go and get to safety during the hours of daylight.”
“Look Nathaniel, we are all in this together now, you need us,” she pleaded, “and we need you!”
Nathaniel turned his back on Mrs. Dawson and walked across the room while Dela stood next to the circle with their stuff.
“You’re leaving?” asked James, who had just woken up.
“Yes,” Dela replied for Nathaniel. “You take care of yourself babes.”
Mr. Green watched on silently as Dela and Nathaniel headed for the hall.
“What the fuck are we supposed to do now King’s Paladin?” Mrs. Dawson screamed after them at the top of her lungs.
Nathaniel stood at the doorway and half turned. “Do what the Society does best: learn, analyse, tell its network and try and halt Ashmodaios’ demon invasion.”
“And what about you two?” Mrs. Dawson flapped her arms against her sides in frustration.
“Dela and I will do what we did from the beginning of the ghastly affair; try to stay alive.” Then they were gone into the hall and made their way towards the conservatory and rear of the house.
“What are we gonna do now hun?” Dela asked as they walked out of the French windows and on to the sodden grass of the garden.
“Get to the car,” Nathaniel replied.
“And after that?” Dela asked.
“Grab the rest of our possessions,” Nathaniel replied, again moving across the lawn to collect the wet scabbard.
“And then what?”
“Get as far away from here as is humanly possible before it gets dark again,” Nathaniel explained, examining the scabbard for damage.
“And where are we going?” Dela asked, knowing how Mrs. Dawson had felt earlier.
“Somewhere safe.” Nathaniel reached the back garden wall and put his hands together so he could boost Dela on to the top of the wall.
“You’re not gonna frigging tell me are you?” Dela said, putting her shoe into his interlocked fingers.
“Up we go,” was his only reply.
Dela gave up as she scaled the wall, he had saved her life – no - soul, twice so she could cut him some slack now.
They both scrambled down the wall on to the bonnet of the wrecked hire car.
“Guess we’re hitch-hiking eh Nat?”
Nathaniel only smiled and opened the boot of the car to collect the last of their gear.
“Least it’s stopped raining,” she added as they began to trudge hand in hand down the lane that ran next to the house.
